If there is one piece of nostalgia that takes me back to my childhood, it’s the sight of a VCR and VCR tape. As a child who grew up in the 90s and saw the VCR slowly be euthanized to make way for DVDs and eventually be phased out for streaming video. My, my how the times have changed.
One of my favorite memories as a kid (which has been meme’d and spoken about ad nauseum) is going to Blockbuster Video. For those of you that are not old enough to remember, Blockbuster Video was a store where you could go and get the latest home video releases. A trip to Blockbuster is to the 90s as what a trip to RedBox is to 2018.
For me, the VCR meant a special occasion. Like most technology, it wasn’t simple to use and required some maneuvering. The way the VCR was set up required knowing which remote to use, which channel on the old school tv to put on for the input, and most importantly, making sure the VCR tape was rewound all the way.
We’ve become so accustomed to spoilers and the ability to instantaneously rewind, fast forward, and skip with the simple click of a button.That was not a luxury with VCRs. If you were watching something on a VCR tape for the first time, you didn’t want to accidentally stop on a viral scene from a movie you had yet to view. That could be fatal and ruin the whole movie for you. Using a VCR tape was akin to playing a less deadly game of Russian roulette.
VCRs also serve as a reminder of simpler times. When our teachers rolled in the tv cart in school, that was a time for celebration. We didn’t have to learn in that instant. Of course if the tape the teacher attempted to play in said VCR didn’t work, we were often shit out of luck and back to the lesson plan we went. It was a real double edged sword.
The most ironic part of VCRs and especially the VCR tapes is that they’ve essentially become collectibles, especially Disney Home videos. In essence, anything remotely related to Disney becomes of immense value. I remember a few years ago when my folks moved from one house to another, the large collection of VHS tapes I had accumulated as a kid had come up for discussion. I toiled with the idea of keeping them, but I also thought about the clutter and potential hoarder situation my parents would find themselves in should they have kept it.
I wish I had told them to keep it, if only for bragging rights. Those VCR tapes were in pretty much mint condition, no matter how many times I watched them. Unfortunately, I did my research, and they’re not worth as much value as I had thought they were. On eBay, a mint condition version of The Lion King is only going for about $9.99. I also don’t even own a VCR player .
Towards the end of the VCR life cycle, they started selling combo VCR and DVD players and I remember thinking, “why would anyone want to buy that?”. It’s going to be outdated soon enough. I could not have spoken sooner. Fewer and fewer stores were selling VCR machines and manufactures making VCR machines. They were becoming extinct right in front of my eyes.
As technology continues to progress and DVDs go the way of VCR tapes, our generation will continue to pine and be infatuated with relics of our past for the sake of conversation and “do you remember” blog posts. We will use services such as this one to enjoy the memories of the times gone.
Rest in peace to the VCR players and tapes. You served honorably.
Featured image via Mick Haupt on Unsplash
